The last two weekends had played out perfectly for the Tulane Green Wave in their hopes of winning the American and making the College Football Playoff. Two weeks ago, Memphis lost stunningly to a UAB team that just fired its coach. Last week, Memphis came right back and handed USF its first loss in league play, making the race for the AAC wide open.
Coming into this weekend, Tulane and Navy were the only teams left unbeaten in the conference while Navy played 2 more league games. After a bye week last weekend, the Green Wave had a chance to move one game closer to the College Football Playoff against a 3-4 UTSA team with a 1-2 record in AAC play.
Tulane is no longer a Playoff contender with loss vs UTSA
The Green Wave started the game with a touchdown that made it look like they were going to cruise to victory. Instead, the Road Runners scored 31 straight points leading to a shocking 31-12 UTSA lead at the half.
In the 3rd quarter, Jon Sumrall pulled Jake Retzlaff as he threw a pair of interceptions, putting the Green Wave in a hole. The issue is that it was too little too late as Sumrall's defense allowed 48 points in the shocking loss.
The Road Runners were able to pass the ball all over as Owen McCown was an incredible 31-33 for 370 yards and 4 touchdowns, while 1 of the 2 incompletions was a drop. The defense wasn't able to pick up a sack, which allowed McCown to find every receiver.
Tulane is now 6-2 with a 3-1 record in the American, dealing a massive hit to their chances of making the playoffs. Heading into this game, Tulane had an 18.1% chance of winning the league while they had a 15.5% chance of making the playoffs.
After seeing this team struggle against East Carolina and Army before losing to UTSA, it's very unlikely that they run the table the rest of the season. Next week brings a massive test against Memphis which will certainly end the hopes of making the College Football Playoff for either team that loses.